Combined chair toy savings-bank and puzzle



No. 000,001. Patented July 26, I898.

c. J. MANNING.

COMBINED CHAIR TOY, SAVINGS BANK, AND PUZZLE.

(Application filed Aug. 30, 1894.)

(No Model.)

with

'ATENT FFIQEe CHARLES J. MANNING, OF CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO WILLIAM F. PEACOCK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

COMBINED CHAIR TOY SAVINGS-BANK AND PUZZLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 608,001, dated July 26, 1898.

Application filed August 30, 1894. Serial No. 521,694- (No model.)

T0 ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES J. MANNING, of Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Chair Toy Savings-Bank and Puzzle, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to that class of toys which are designed to amuse children and at the same time discipline their minds and memory.

The invention has for its object to provide a combined puzzle and toy savings-bank, so that the article may not only be entertaining and amusing, but be at the same time to a certain degree useful and instructive.

To these ends the invention consists of a toy savings-bank made in the form of a chair, in which the sides and the front and rear and top and bottom pieces are grooved to receive the meeting edges of the pieces or parts with which they come into contact in such manner that such meeting edges will set into the said grooves and the edge of one piece or part being so formed as that it may be sprung into and out of its holdinggroove inorder to set up or put together the parts to form a toy savings-bank or to separate the parts to render it a puzzle to put them together, all as I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Reference is to be had to the annexed drawings and to the letters and figures marked thereon, forming a part ofthis specification, the same letters designating the same parts or features, as the case may be, wherever they occur.

The said drawings illustrate one form of means which may be made to embody my invention, of which drawings- Figure 1 is a perspective View of the invention set up as a savings-bank. Fig. 2 is a vertical central sectional view running from front to rear of the same. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a perspective view of one of the grooved pieces, showing a way of forming one edge so that as a last piece of the body or bank to be put into place it may be readily sprung into its groove.

In the drawings, a b designate the side pieces, which in this case are extended at the lower ends of such pieces apart.

their upper edges to form arms 0 and at their lower edges to form legs 01 of a toy chair.

6 is the top piece or seat, and has formed through it at a central point a slot f, through piecest' and j being grooved to receive the contacting or adjacent edges of the sides ab. The bottom piece it is made with the inner part of one edge rounded, as at 70, as is clearly represented in Fig. 4:, though this feature is not essential. v

I Z designates a piecewhich is slipped into grooves formed in the sides of the arms 0, so as to. constitute the back of the toy chair.

When the bottom piece 9 issprung into place, as above described, the pressure thereof exerted on the side pieces a?) acts to force This outward movement of the lower ends of the side pieces causes a consequent inward movement of the upper ends thereof, the edges of the piece 6 actingas fulcrums or pivots for such movement of the sides. By inserting the back piece Z, however, in the grooves formed in the portions 0 of the sides a b above the.

seat 6 the upper portions of said sides are pushed slightly out, and the result is that the piece gis clamped firmly between said sides, and all of the pieces forming the body of the chair and the bank are held securely together.

All of the parts mentioned are made separate and are assembled by, say, first placing the top piece 6, with its sides, in the grooves m formed in the side pieces a b at their upper parts; then placing the rear and front pieces U in the position shown in Fig. 1, with their upper edges in the groove 0, formed in the front and rear projecting edges of the upper or seat-piece e, and with the front and rear edges of the sides extending into grooves p,

formed in said front and rear pieces near their edges; then placing the bottom piece in a groove similar to the groove 0, formed in the lower part of the side piece a, and springing the free edge into a similar groove formed in the side piece I), and, finally, by slipping the back Z in the inclined grooves formed in the arms 6 of the side pieces, which maintains such sides in a parallel position and prevents any inward movement of the upper ends thereof under the lateral pressure exerted by the sides of the piece 9.

In springing the edge into a groove formed in the lower part of the side piece I) a little exertion is required, and hence it is not obvious as to how said final piece is arranged in position so as to form a figure of a chair and hold all of the parts together.

By my invention a very interesting and amusing toy is provided for children, and it is so formed that the mind and memory of the child may be disciplined and strengthened in the effort of putting the parts together so as to form a toy chair, and, besides, a toy savings-bank is secured by which the child using the device may be trained in habits of economy.

If considered advisable, rockers may be attached to the legs of the chair when the invention is made in that form to have it resemble a rocking-chair.

I am aware that prior to my invention it has been proposed to construct a toy bank or money-box of a series of pieces similar in size and form, having grooves on their inner faces to receive the edges of adjacent pieces, whereby there could be formed a substantially square-shaped box; butin practice it has been found that this construction was unsatisfactory and objectionable in that it did not provide a structure whereby the last piece slipped or forced into place (and the first to be removed in order to open the box) could be locked or securely held, so as to make it a decided puzzle, as it were, to open the box, or if the parts were made sufficiently stiff to hold it securely they held it so firmly that children, for want of strength, could scarcely operate the device at all.

In my construction herein shown and described the side pieces a b are projected some distance above the top of the box or bank proper and are grooved, as described, so that the wedge-piece Z can be slipped into place and, as it were, become locked and look all of the pieces composing the bank or box proper in place in such a manner that none of them can be removed until the locking-piecel is removed, and even then the box cannot be opened until the secret involved in the aforesaid former construction is discovered. In brief, my improvement provides a lock for all of the parts, the manner of the operation of which look is hidden, so that the box cannot be opened until the lock-piece is discovered and removed, and then there yet remains the puzzle or secret of getting the pieces of the box proper apart.

l-Iavin g thus explained the nature of the invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, though without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, it is declared that what is claimed is- A toy savings-bank puzzle consisting of a series of separable pieces, one of which is provided with a coin-receiving slot or aperture, each piece being provided on its inner face with parallel grooves for receiving the edges of adjacent pieces when the parts are assembled to form a bank, two of said pieces located on opposite sides of the box having extensions, 0, beyond the body thereof, whereby, when the parts are assembled, there is produced a box having two parallel pieces projecting above the upper side of the box proper, each of such projecting portions having a groove formed in its inner face, and a lock or Wedge-piece Z adapted to fit in the lastmentioned grooves to force the ends of the projecting pieces outward and lock the other parts of the box together, whereby a double puzzle in the separation of the pieces is provided, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 23d day of August, A. D. 1894..

CHARLES J MANNING.

WVitnesses:

WILLIAM F. PEAOOCK, ARTHUR WV. ORossLEY. 

